Too much March Madness disrupts Michigan schools' computers

10:16 AM, March 27, 2013

The Associated Press

FLINT — A Michigan school district has blocked access to college basketball games over its computer network after people watching NCAA tournament games last week prevented students from viewing online instructional resources.

The Flint Journal reports the Genesee Intermediate School District made the move involving a fiber optic network that connects more than 200 buildings to voice, video and data.

Workers with Genesee Network for Education Telecommunication, or GenNET, were flooded with complaints last Thursday about slow Internet access. Both Michigan and Michigan State were among the schools playing March Madness games that day.

The network problem was traced to people watching NCAA basketball. It wasn't known exactly how many people were watching the games online.